A Friend 'til the End
by The Lone Spankster
Summary: A story about a boy and his Good Guy Doll


I've always wanted a friend 'til the end, even if my end was going to be the one coming first.

But then I got sick, so sick I couldn't play outside anymore with any of the other kids in the neighborhood. My mommy and daddy said I was too sick, and I could get sicker if I went outside to play. Maybe that's why they got me a Good Guy Doll for my 8th birthday. He was pretty cool. Red hair, blue overalls, he said 3 different things, and the first was and I would say the same thing back with my name, that's how my mommy and daddy taught me how to make friends. And my mommy and daddy even bought the Good Guy Construction Playkit! He was my friend. Soon the only words I ever said were the same things Lewis would say. Lewis and me were so much alike.

Then I started getting even more sick. I started falling down in my house randomly and falling asleep. I was really falling asleep, but I can't remember what the doctors said it was, but that's kind of what it felt like. My hair started falling out and soon it was so hard for me to even move around. It felt like I wasn't strong enough to walk. I started coughing a lot and had to take medicine a lot. I also had to stay in my bed with all these machines and tubes on me. Thankfully I had my Good Guy Doll to keep me company, at least he was their for me. He wouldn't make me sick or hurt me, and he was always eager for a hug. I didn't get to go outside to the playground, or school, or even chase the ice cream truck like all the other kids, but at least I had Lewis

After time it got worse and worse. I heard the doctor talking to my mommy and daddy one day in the hospital and he said I almost died. I have never seen mommy cry so much. Even my daddy, who was such a strong man, he even cried. I just didn't understand, why was this happening to me? At least Lewis was with me, so I wasn't alone. But the doctor said I could not go home. I had to stay at the hospital.

Lewis kept me company in the hospital, even when it got scary some nights. The hospital would get dark and quiet, except for footsteps of some of the people there walking around checking in on me. I was hooked up to so many machines that always beeped, but sleeping wasn't hard for me. I was always tired, I couldn't move my legs anymore it became that hard. Some nights it would storm and I would hug Lewis tight because storms scared me.

My mommy and daddy and other people in my family always came and visited me in the hospital. We even had my 9th birthday party there, and I even got my aunt to give Lewis a party hat. I wasn't able to blow out the candles on my cake though, it was really hard to breathe. That was the last time I ever saw my mommy and daddy, it was also the last time I remember being really sick.

That night it was another big thunderstorm and I got really scared. The thunder was really loud and the wind was making the tree branches hit the window outside of my hospital room. I felt really tired, really sick. I hugged Lewis and just hoped for it to be over soon. I heard the footsteps down the hallway and someone came in to check on me like always, except this guy was new. I've never seen him before. I was getting really tired though, and the machine wasn't beeping as fast anymore, it was getting to be a few seconds between beeps. I was feeling really awful. I just hugged Lewis tighter and tighter. The man walked into the room to check on me. He was a tall, skinny, dark skinned man and he told me everything was going to be alright. I was about to fall asleep because I was so sick. I felt his hand on my head as I slowly fell asleep and the machines stopped making different beeping sounds. It just made one long beep sound that never stopped.

When I woke up from my sleep I felt so much better. I couldn't see Lewis anywhere, but I felt so much better. I wasn't coughing, I didn't have any tubes or machines hooked up to me, and I even had hair again. I was not constantly sleep.

I also woke up somewhere different. It didn't look like my house and it didn't look like the hospital. I didn't see my mommy or daddy anywhere. This house was really big and neat, there were all kinds of neat looking things all over. And the bedroom, I was always surrounded by so many toys. I wonder where my mommy and daddy are, I wonder if they know I feel better. For some reason I still couldn't move much, just turn my head and say a couple words sometimes, usually the ones I always said with Lewis because I missed him so much, but it wasn't like I was too sick to move or do much, I just somehow wasn't able to. My voice felt kind of funny too, but it didn't hurt to talk or breathe anymore.

I don't know where my mommy and daddy are, but there is another man and woman in this new house and they are really nice. There's always other kids around my age that would stay at this house and play with me, and it didn't matter that I still couldn't move much, because they always carried me around and brought me everywhere. I finally had friends! I've always wanted friends and now I have them, and I am no longer sick. Maybe my mommy and daddy sent me here so I could be better. Maybe this man and woman are my new mommy and daddy who take care of my so I am not sick anymore. Maybe their house is my new home. Maybe all these kids that come and go are my brothers and sisters. I've always wanted brothers and sisters!

Even though I was better, I still didn't have to go to school, do chores, or anything! It was so nice in this house. I still missed my mommy and daddy, but I think they put me here with my new mommy and daddy so I could be better. Every night I got to lay in bed with one of my new brothers as my new mommy would read us a bedtime story. My new daddy wasn't the nicest man, but he wasn't too bad, he really liked to make rules and make sure we all followed them. I even got a much older sister with blonde hair. She wasn't too nice and she smoked whenever my new mommy and daddy weren't around, but I never saw her, she was always with her friends.

Even though I didn't have my real mommy and daddy, or Lewis, I was pretty happy. Not being sick, having real friends that played with me and took me everywhere they went, and not having to live in the hospital anymore.

Then one day I got a new brother to play with, but when he saw me, he didn't seem to like me much and he tried to run away, only to be stopped by my new daddy because he really did not like it when anyone ran in the house. He looked like a really nice boy, I really wanted to be his friend. None of my brothers or sisters ever stayed at my new house long with my new mommy or daddy, but this kid seemed like he'd be a good friend.

For some reason that night my new mommy didn't let me stay the night with my new brother or even let me listen to a bedtime story with him. I had to stay downstairs, but at least I could hear her, which was nice. It was storming out again, which scared me. My new mommy was singing to my new brother because he was afraid of storms too. It really made me feel better to hear her sing, because it made me not as afraid anymore.

As I heard some thunder I got scared and turned my head and saw someone standing at the end of the stairs. He sounded angry, and I couldn't see him well because it was dark. Maybe he didn't have any friends. Maybe I could be his friend. He got closer and he bumped into me. He looked just like him, but talked different, and moved more. He looked just like Lewis, and I could see my reflection in his shiny eyes. He looked just like me.

Maybe he could be my new friend, I wouldn't know unless I found how. So I said to him what I always did to people I wanted to be friends with.

"Hi, my name is Tommy!"


End file.
